


Five Minutes to Fall in Love

by UnmovingGreatLibrary



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: F/F, Gen, Love Confessions, Time Loop, Time Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-20 07:32:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15529278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnmovingGreatLibrary/pseuds/UnmovingGreatLibrary
Summary: Sanae is crushed when she botches her best chance to confess to Reimu. Fortunately, Tewi hands her a unique opportunity: For a low, low price, she can use a leftover dose of Ultramarine Orb Elixir to try her confession again and again, until she gets it right.Too bad the dose is only enough for five minutes per attempt.





	1. Iterations 0 - 3

The moment of truth had come.

Sanae's heart pounded in her ears. She took a long breath, then blew it out, imagining all of her anxiety and tension going with it. Somebody had told her it was a good way to relax. It wasn't helping at all. Nothing to do but forge ahead anyway.

“So! Um, Reimu, do you think we could talk? Like... somewhere by ourselves?”

Five people were sitting in the circle, and every eye turned toward Sanae. “Can't we talk right here?” Reimu asked.

“A-ah, well, I just have one thing I think it'd be better to talk about in private. It will be really quick, I promise!”

Sanae could swear that for a moment, just a _moment_ , she saw a smirk tugging at Reimu's lips. She took a quick sip of her drink, and when she lowered it again, her expression was back to a friendly smile. “Well, sure. … somebody save my seat, alright? And don't eat all the snacks while I'm gone.”

Kokoro was nibbling on one of the mochi that Sanae had brought. She met Reimu's expression blankly, while her masks fluttered around her head in an indecisive flock. Her Hyottoko mask settled into position, and she sighed out, “They're really tasty, though...”

“I'll keep an eye on them,” Kasen said. “Go talk to Sanae.”

“Good.”

Reimu reluctantly rose from her spot and led Sanae down the hillside. Finding some privacy was easier said than done. The Hakurei shrine's first flower-viewing of the year was always one of Gensokyo's biggest social events, and today's was no exception. Dozens of visitors were scattered across the shrine's grounds. Only once they were well out of the cherry grove did the two really escape the party, and even then, they passed a few groups of relaxing youkai.

Reimu came to a stop at the edge of the shrine's clearing. “So, what's on your mind?”

“Something really good, I promise! There's, um, something I wanted to give you!”

“Eh? You couldn't have given it to me back there?”

“Nope! It's special!” Sanae reached inside her robe and slipped a hand into a pocket. “You'll see when—Um.” She checked another pocket. “A-ah.”

“What?”

Sanae wasn't usually the type to overthink things, but she'd put a lot of thought into the love letter she'd brought today. She'd gotten Kanako to help her with the calligraphy. She'd run it past Suwako, who had even taken it seriously enough to refrain from teasing her about the contents too much. She'd spent an hour digging through one of the shrine's rooms full of outside world leftovers to find a thesaurus. (And now worried that she might have swapped 'love' out for 'adoration' a few too many times, but it was too late to fix that.) It was a meticulous work of art, a heartfelt expression of her feelings.

It was also, she was discovering, not in any of her pockets.

“Um!” Sanae squeaked.

“Cat got your tongue, eh?”

Sanae glanced back in the direction they'd come from, but wherever the letter had disappeared to, it wasn't somewhere quite so convenient. If she was lucky, she'd dropped it somewhere on the long stretch of wilderness between the two shrines. If she was _un_ lucky, she'd dropped it somewhere around the party. Just about anybody could be reading it now, making fun of the super-secret love letter that she'd poured her heart into.

Sanae tried to work up the nerve to make her confession then and there, but she couldn't. Not without some time to mentally prepare, and definitely not when she was already off-balance. She hunted frantically for some excuse that would let her end the conversation without tipping her hand. “Actually...! I just wanted to show you, um... this!”

Apart from the missing letter, Sanae only had two things in her pockets—a coin purse, and the key to the Moriya shrine's living area. The key was the only one she needed these days, but she still kept it on a chain. Now, she thrust it in Reimu's face. A little acrylic keychain dangled from the bottom, half-faded after a decade in Gensokyo. “It's cute, isn't it?” she asked desperately.

Reimu stared at the dangling piece of plastic. “That's what you brought me out here for?”

“Yep...! Just that! It's my favorite pokemon.” Sanae was babbling now. “Its name is Heracross.”

“Uh-huh. Sure you didn't get me mixed up with Sumireko?”

“Y-yep!”

“Er. Well, I guess it looks cute. Is that, er, everything you needed?”

“Yeah!”

“Right... I, uh, I think I'm going to get back to the party now.”

“Sure thing! Thanks for coming out here...!”

Reimu gave a final, confused nod before turning and heading back toward the party. Sanae waited until she was mostly out of sight to deflate. The big confession she'd spent weeks preparing for, and she'd blown it. Even if she found the letter now, it would probably be another week before she'd be able to look Reimu in the eyes without getting embarrassed. And that was assuming Reimu didn't start making fun of her as soon as she got back to the party...

“Looks like you've had a pretty rough day.”

The voice interrupted Sanae's self-pity. She looked around, but didn't see the speaker. Only after a few seconds more did she spot a pair of fuzzy white ears poking up from the underbrush, a moment before Tewi stepped out from the forest's edge. “Am I right?”

Sanae didn't answer for a few seconds, as her brain strung the implications together. A blush flooded to her cheeks. “Wait, were you there the whole time?!”

“Me? Nope. I was just passing by and noticed you standing out here. So...” Tewi eased over, and in barely a moment, had a dainty arm draped companionably across Sanae's back. “Love troubles, huh?”

“H-hey!” Sanae jerked backward. “No! I mean! Um! … what makes you think it's a love thing?”

Tewi chuckled knowingly. “Hey, listen. I might not look like it, but I'm pretty old and wise for a rabbit! D'you think I haven't learned to spot when a girl's got that twinkle of love in her eyes?”

“Huh? Er, well, um...”

“Besides! I'm here to help you. As luck would have it, I happen to have a little product here that will give you just what you need.”

Tewi triumphantly thrust a hand into the air. Sitting on her palm was a tiny, ornate vial, with a cord through its stopper. Sanae crouched down to inspect it. “Oh! It's a love potion or something, right?”

“Nope! Even better.”

“Er. … what could really be better than a love potion for this?”

“Look, a simple love potion will just help you hook up with the person. _This_ is something way better. It's a genuine, bona fide dose of Ultramarine Orb Elixir! You know, to let you see the future.”

“Ultrama—oh! That stuff we drank when we fought the moon!”

“That's the stuff!”

“... are you supposed to have that? Reisen acted like it was pretty important...”

“Hey, we've got tons of potions around Eientei. Nobody's going to notice if one or two turn up missing now and then. And, since I'm feeling generous and all, I'm willing to let you have a dose!”

“Whoa!” Sanae paused. “Um, how's that supposed to help me, though?”

“Easy. You want to confess to Reimu, right? You just take a dose, and then you've got all the time you need to figure out how to do it right. You know.” Tewi shot Sanae a rogueish grin and elbowed her side. “Really put the charm on her! Win over her heart!”

Sanae stared for a few seconds, as her mind worked out exactly what Tewi was proposing. She _had_ taken the elixir during the lunar invasion, and while the day's events were a bit of a blur in her memories, she could remember the experience—charging into the same battle a dozen times, repeating fights over and over until she could dance past every bullet. If anything could let her give Reimu a confession as perfect as her letter, that would be it.

“I'll do it!”

“Great! It's all yours for a simple payment of five thousand yen.”

“Er.” Sanae patted the coin purse in her pocket. “I think I only have a thousand on me...?”

“Ah, silly me. I got the prices all wrong. What I _meant_ to say was, 'six easy payments of a thousand yen'!”

The price tag only gave Sanae a momentary pause. “Oh! I can probably afford that!”

“Convenient, huh?” Tewi offered the vial up and gave it a little shake. Sanae pulled out her coin purse and counted out her change. When the trade was complete, Tewi gave a satisfied nod. “Oh! The vial's mine, though. You just want to take one drop, so be really careful, okay?”

“Okay!” Sanae looked down at the vial. The whole thing was the size of her pinky, and she wasn't even going to drink all of it? … which obviously meant that it was _really potent_. She couldn't believe she'd managed to get such a good deal!

Sanae carefully pulled the stopper from the little vial. A slight medicinal smell wafted from the end, and only grew stronger as she raised it to her lips. She tilted it back, watching a drop slowly slide down over the edge...

It dripped onto her tongue. An electric tingle ran through her body. Sanae swallowed.

The universe exploded in front of her.

* * *

_Sanae's world blurred into a kaleidoscope of possibilities. A thousand fractal Tewis looked up at her with two thousand eyes. They all opened their mouths to speak, but instantly diverged. Here, Tewi peered at her with concern. There, Tewi laughed at her reaction and gave her a slap on the side. They grew further apart with each passing moment, splitting and multiplying, a million billion possibilities all sprouting from a single point in time._

… and, like a rubber band stretched too far, the universe snapped back into place. There was only one Tewi in front of her, curiously peering at Sanae. “Oh! Hey, you're back. I was afraid I needed to start digging a grave for a second there.”

“That was... that was weird!” If Sanae didn't take care to focus on the current moment, she could hear her words a split-second before she said them. That was going to take some getting used to. “Like, _really_ weird.”

“That's what they tell me!” Tewi rose up on her tiptoes to pluck the vial from Sanae's hand. Within a second, she'd stoppered it and hidden it away again. “It isn't too bad though, right? Not stopping you from doing stuff?”

“Oh, um, yeah! I think I can...” Sanae raised a hand to cradle the side of her head, only to notice that it left a few afterimages, tracing minutely different paths to the same result. She glowered at it and concentrated until she was very sure that she only saw two hands on her body. “... do things.”

“Hey, that's great! Because, actually, I forgot to mention. That dose you took is only enough for five minutes.”

“Wait. What?!”

“Five minutes, like, forward in time! Or, here, let me just read the label.” Tewi turned the vial over and squinted at it. “'Blah blah, contraindicated if'—oh, there it is. 'Five minutes per causally-related series of macroscopic eigenstates within a single future light cone.'”

“I don't know what that means!”

“I'm sure you'll figure it out! I mean, you have plenty of chances, right?”

“But—!”

Tewi raised a hand to cut her off. “Think about it like this—you're already down to about four and a half minutes. Better make the most of it, right?”

Sanae stared at her, sputtering in disbelief... but Tewi was right about that much. Whatever the label meant, there was a timer ticking down. She had to get to work. “A-ah, I'll be back! Stay right here!”

Sanae took off up the hill at full speed. A few lounging youkai shot her curious glances, but she ignored them. If her time was limited, she had to get to Reimu as soon as she could. Soon, she was back in the cherry grove, running through a pink shower of petals. Only when she was within a dozen meters of the group did she slow down, proceeding at a more casual walk and trying to pretend that she hadn't just sprinted halfway across the shrine's grounds.

The small group they'd been sitting in was still in the same positions. Reimu, Marisa, Kasen, and Kokoro looked up at her, most of them holding sake dishes in their hands. Kasen was the first to speak. “Welcome back, Sanae.”

“Th-thanks.” Sanae tried, and failed, to hide the fact that she was out of breath. She also tried, and failed, to ignore the quizzical look that Reimu was giving her. She settled back into her seat and smoothed her skirt out.

“Want me to top your drink up?” Marisa asked, already offering the bottle over.

“Ah, um, I'll pass!”

“I brought some of the best sake in Gensokyo today,” Kasen said, warmly but with just a hint of pride in her voice. “You should at least try a little to enjoy the flavor.”

“It's tasty,” Kokoro agreed flatly, taking a sip.

“A-ah, well, I don't usually drink much, and today—“

“Ah, leave her alone,” Reimu said. “As weird as Sanae's acting today, booze might not be a good idea.”

Sanae flushed, but she couldn't let a challenge like that go unanswered. She thrust her dish forward with a huff. “Jeez, go ahead! … but it's not nice to force people into this stuff, you know. It's considered really rude in the outside world!”

Marisa tipped the bottle down to fill her dish. “Got a policy of not arguin' with free booze, myself, but I'll keep it in mind.”

Sanae pouted down at her drink, but she was slowly becoming aware of a bigger issue. She had no idea how she was going to confess to Reimu. It had barely been a minute or two since she'd pulled Reimu away the first time. If she tried again so soon, Reimu would probably think she was crazy. And she didn't have a lot of time to think about it, either...

Something moved on the ground, just out of Sanae's vision. She glanced down. The middle of the circle was full of food and drinks. Among them was a plate of sakura mochi that she'd made this morning... and as she watched, one of them hovered a few centimeters up into the air and disappeared. A few seconds later, another followed suit. Sanae frowned thoughtfully at the plate and tried to make sense of what she was seeing. She could _sense_ something there, but the moment she tried thinking about it, her attention slid away like water from a duck's back.

Kokoro, on the other hand, had no such handicap. “My nemesis!” she shouted, springing to her feet. “You're still a thief, I see.”

“Waa!” Whatever was next to Sanae, it shouted. Even then, it took a few seconds for her to focus on it—Koishi was crouched down next to her, with a small pile of sakura mochi in her hands. “Mask girl! Hi~!”

Kasen glanced between the two uncertainly. “Oh? Do you two know each other?“

Instead of an answer, Kokoro sliced her naginata through the air, centimeters above the group's heads. She leveled the blade at Koishi, while her fox mask settled in front of her face, overflowing with so much emotion that it boiled with blue flame at the edges. “I've been waiting for a rematch. Prepare yourself!”

“Oh, a fight!” Koishi peered down the length of the blade, then straightened up and shoved one of the mochi into her mouth, freeing a hand to wave in the air excitedly. “That sounds fun!” she added, spraying pink rice from her mouth.

“Hey now!” Reimu shouted. “Simmer down! There's people trying to drink here—!”

Kokoro lunged forward, moving into the middle of the circle and knocking over a bottle of sake. Koishi half-skipped, half-spun away from her blade, sending her handful of mochi flying in all directions. “Whoooa! No fair, I didn't say I was ready!”

“Jeez, watch where you're goin'!” Marisa shouted, scrambling to get out from between the two.

“Battle doesn't wait for—“ Kokoro stepped through a series of complicated slashes, advancing forward and trampling the last few mochi on the plate. “—anybody!”

“H-hey, wait...!” Sanae hurried to her feet and tried to step between the two. “You can't fight here! It's a peaceful gathering and stuff!”

Kokoro ignored her, driving Koishi back with a series of pointed thrusts. Koishi danced backward, countering with a spray of heart-shaped bullets. Sanae stumbled backward and barely avoided the pair of attacks. Soon, the two had settled into a steady back-and-forth fight, and the scattered party attendees quickly moved in to watch the show. Nobody in Gensokyo was above a bit of free entertainment.

“Fighting's one thing, but they didn't have to stomp on all the snacks while they were at it.” Marisa sighed. “Could've at least stepped away before they started shooting each other. Y'know, like civilized people.”

“I'm more concerned about the booze, myself.” Reimu glanced to the spilled bottle, then leaned over to sidle up against Kasen. “But since it was an accident, I'm sure you won't mind getting more for us, right?”

“Reimu, I really don't think this is the time to—“

The two started bickering, but Sanae tuned them out. It had to have taken at least a minute or so to get to the party after she took the elixir, and she'd wasted another minute before the fight started. She'd already used up at least half of her time, and it was probably going to be a few minutes before the fight settled down. Her odds of getting Reimu alone were growing increasingly slim, let alone finding the right mood to confess to her...

As soon as she had that thought, the universe fell apart around her, like an unraveling ball of twine.

* * *

_Sanae's vision pulled back, and like a cannonball shot straight into the air, she found that she could suddenly see so much more. The entirety of existence was at her fingertips, from the beginning of time to the heat death of the universe. It all made **sense** now, fitting together like a satisfying little puzzle. She could see just how it flowed, how a little nudge ten million years ago could become a tidal wave tomorrow._

_And just like a cannonball, Sanae came crashing back down._

Tewi leaned in front of her, curiously peering at Sanae. “Oh! Hey, you're back. I was afraid I needed to start digging a grave for a second there.”

“A-ah, um!” Sanae scrambled back and tried to get her bearings. “What the heck?!”

“I guess it feels pretty weird, huh?” Tewi rose up on her tiptoes to pluck the vial from Sanae's hand. Within a second, she'd stoppered it and hidden it away again. “It isn't too bad though, right? Not stopping you from doing stuff?”

“I can, but—“ Sanae paused. She was back with Tewi. This conversation was feeling kind of familiar, too. “Wait! You tricked me!”

“Hey, that hurts! I take a lot of pride in my reputation as an honest businesswoman. Besides, I think you'll find that potion's the real deal.”

“No! I mean, um!” Sanae shook her head to clear it of cobwebs, and the lingering afterimages of all of space-time. Mostly the latter, if she was being honest. “Five minutes is really short! How am I supposed to talk to Reimu in that?”

Tewi's ears drooped down thoughtfully, until understanding rose to her face. “Oh, I get it. This isn't your first time, huh?”

“No! Well, I mean, it's my second time, but—that doesn't matter! I can't even confess in that much time, because Kokoro and that satori girl are gonna get into a fight, and, um—!”

“'Um'?”

Sanae's mind was going at the speed of light. If she was here again, that meant she'd returned back to the time where she took the potion. Which meant that Kokoro and Koishi hadn't started fighting yet, which meant—

“Never mind! I'll be back after!”

Sanae took off up the hill at full speed. A few lounging youkai shot her curious glances, but she ignored them. As she ran, she put together a plan of action in her head. This time, she didn't slow down until she was in danger of plowing straight into the circle of flower-gazers, stumbling to a stop barely a meter from Reimu.

“Welcome back,” Kasen said, and gave her a worried look. “Is something wrong? Why were you running?”

“Th-thanks. I, um. Don't worry about it!” Sanae knelt down by her spot at the circle. The looks she was getting this time were even more concerned.

“Well, uh.” Marisa raised the bottle of sake and gave it a shake. “Want me to top your drink up?”

“I already told you that's rude! Anyway, I just came here to get this!” Sanae grabbed the plate of sakura mochi and stood back up. “I'll be back soon, okay?”

“Fixing to eat a whole plate?” Reimu asked. “Isn't that a lot for one—?”

Sanae was already gone. She hadn't quite figured out this part of her plan, but she had a decent outline in her head. She walked straight away from the circle, until she was just out of view. She flopped down to the ground, leaning back against a tree. And, she took the biggest bite of mochi that she could fit into her mouth.

“Mmm!” Sanae announced to nobody. “This mochi is really good!”

Nothing happened. She took another two bites, and tried really hard to watch her surroundings for a person-that-wasn't-a-person. “It's really sweet! And tasty!” she said, louder this time.

Still nothing. Sanae took a breath and raised her voice just short of shouting. “I SURE WOULD LOVE TO SHARE SOME MOCHI WITH A SATORI WHO—!”

“Hey.” Sekibanki voice was quiet, but her annoyed tone cut right through Sanae's shouting. She pushed her way through a wall of cherry branches a few meters away, scowling past her collar. “Can you keep it down? We're trying to relax over here.”

“Oh. A-ah.” Sanae shifted in place, embarrassed. “Sorry...! I'll try to be quieter.”

“Thank you.”

Sekibanki turned and disappeared back through the wall of trees. Sanae sighed, and reached for the mochi again... just in time to see one disappear from under her hand.

“Aha!”

She lunged forward and grabbed an invisible wrist. It took a second or two of additional staring before her brain was able to fill the Koishi-shaped hole in the universe. “I found you!”

“Hi!” Koishi said, tilting her head to the side. “Were we playing hide and seek?”

“Er, nope!”

“Oh.” Koishi thoughtfully shoved a piece of mochi into her mouth. “I'm _really_ good at hide and seek though!”

“Well, maybe we can play it sometime. For now... I brought you a whole plate of mochi! It's all yours, if you want it!”

Koishi stared in amazement. Her head gave an excited bob.

“Good!” Sanae nearly shoved it into Koishi's hands. “Why don't you take it and go eat it, um... over there! Way over there!” She pointed away from the group.

“Oh, that does sound pretty fun! Thanks, shrine lady!”

Koishi faded from Sanae's vision as soon as she took a few steps, but she'd _seemed_ to be going in the right direction. Sanae was just going to have to hope that it worked out. She rose to her feet and hurried back to the group—walking quickly this time, rather than running. She'd already used two or three minutes, but she wasn't going to get anywhere if everybody thought she was a weirdo again.

“Welcome, uh, back?” Marisa said, as she settled into her seat again. “Take care of whatever you were doing?”

“A-ah, um, yep!”

“You were yelling,” Kokoro said. She leaned forward to inspect Sanae, with her monkey mask wobbling uncertainly to one side of her face. “Ah. The mochi are gone. Did you eat the plate too?”

“I was... giving them away?” It was the best excuse Sanae could come up with. She didn't have time for this conversation anyway. She looked to Reimu. “So...! Reimu, if you don't mind...”

“Reimu.” Kasen's firm voice cut her off.

Every eye in the circle turned toward Kasen, then followed her gaze to the shrine. There, the Fairies of Light were creeping along the wall, cooperating to carry a barrel that had doubtlessly come from inside.

“That's the backup booze, isn't it?” Marisa said.

“Yep,” Reimu said, “it is.”

Kasen raised an eyebrow. “Aren't you going to stop them?”

“Huh? Oh. Right.” Reimu grabbed her gohei and stood up, giving it a few practice swings. “Suppose I'll have to teach those tykes a lesson they won't soon forget.”

Sanae did some very quick math in her head. If she was being generous, she had maybe two minutes left. A fight, even against fairies, was probably going to take a while, but if she evened the odds a little...

“Um! I'll help too!” Sanae leapt to her feet. “It'll be easier with two of us, right?”

“Hey, yeah.” Reimu waved her forward. “Go get 'em!”

“Right!”

Sanae charged forward. She hadn't brought her onusa, but she didn't think she was going to notice the reduction in firepower. After all, they were only fighting fairies.

“Stop right there!” Sanae shouted as she approached the shrine. She swung her hand up, the glimmering core of an attack forming at her fingertips. “And, um, drop the sake!”

The Fairies of Light stopped right where they were at.

“Let's get out of here!” Sunny shouted, and dropped her end of the barrel.

“Run!” Star shouted, and dropped her end of the barrel.

“Wait, should we—?” Luna was cut off as both her companions took off running. She wobbled, and the barrel slipped from her hands with a heavy thud. She stared at Sanae in terror, then hurried after the others.

Sanae leapt over the rolling barrel and fired off a wild spray of bullets. None of them got anywhere close to the fairies, but she was gaining ground. The fairies had gotten a head start, but Sanae had a size advantage. Second by second, she got a little closer, and she shot off a few more attacks to slow them down.

A bit too late, Sanae became aware of a few unfortunate facts. The first was that she was alone. Reimu had just sort of stopped before even reaching the shrine, and she was now watching the chase with idle interest. The second was that she didn't _need_ to chase the fairies—she could have settled for scaring them off.

Third, and most important, was the fact that Star was frantically fiddling with something in her hands as she ran. Sanae saw the black blur as she tossed it backward, but it had almost hit the ground by the time that her mind identified it as a bomb.

“Try not to get hurt!” Star shouted back, a bit too gleefully for the situation.

The bomb exploded. It was more bark than bite, not accomplishing much except releasing a firm pop and a cloud of thick smoke. It was still enough to startle Sanae, and definitely enough to make her stumble to a stop. She coughed and waved the smoke away, pushing through it until she stepped into fresh air again. The fairies hadn't wasted the distraction, and had put a good twenty meters or so between them and Sanae. Reimu, though, was even farther away. All that time wasted, and for nothing. She wasn't going to be confessing this time unless she sprinted back and blurted it out without stopping.

Again, Sanae fell out of time, and it bared itself before her.

* * *

_Time wasn't a **line**. Now that she had a good look at it, that much was obvious. It wasn't even a cleanly-branching tree like sci-fi stories always promised her. It was a cloud, splayed and wispy, like an octopus made out of fog. Its long tendrils formed around cores of high probability, growing thinner and thinner as their events grew more strange. Most paths led toward the same few points, orbiting attractors before they spiraled in toward singularities of certainty. Here and there, though, they snaked on toward infinity, forming tiny escape routes from the universe itself. She squinted at one, and caught the briefest glimpse of Mokou's silhouette—_

Tewi leaned in front of her, curiously peering at Sanae. “Oh! Hey, you're back. I was afraid I needed to start digging a grave for a second there.”

Sanae rubbed her forehead and blinked her eyes, trying to clear the afterimages. “That just keeps getting weirder...”

“That's what they tell me!” Tewi rose up on her tiptoes to pluck the vial from Sanae's hand... then paused. “Oh, hey. Does that mean this isn't your first time?”

“No! I keep having to do it over and over! There's too much stuff that can go wrong if...”

Sanae trailed off, as a new plan of attack occurred to her. Tewi tucked the vial away and gave her a cautiously curious look. “If what?”

“Um, never mind! I have to go, sorry!”

Sanae leaned forward and charged off at a sprint, the fastest she'd run all day. This time... this time was going to be her last attempt. Every time she'd cleared an obstacle, another had popped up in front of her. This might never work if she didn't find a way to power through and confess regardless. So, no screwing around this time. She wouldn't even try to pretend that everything was normal. She was going to sit down, tell Reimu how she felt, and get this over with.

“Welcome back,” Kasen said, then trailed off in surprise as Sanae practically skidded to a stop. “Is something wrong?”

“N-...!” Sanae was gasping for air, which made it a little hard to respond. “Nope!”

“Uh-huh,” Marisa said. She patted the ground for the sake bottle, then casually offered it up. “Well, anyway, want me to top your drink up?”

After already having this conversation twice, it was all starting to sound kind of familiar. It seemed faster to just get it over with. Sanae yanked the bottle from Marisa's hands, sloshed some into her dish, and downed the whole thing in a single powerful gulp. “Th-there!” she sputtered. She thrust the dish accusingly toward Marisa. “And it's still rude!”

“Uh, Sanae.” Reimu sat her own drink down and reached over to rest a steadying hand on Sanae's shoulder. “You're actin' a mite weird today. Everything okay?”

Marisa eyed Reimu across the circle. “'A mite'? Really?”

Reimu ignored her. Sanae did too. “Actually...!” She met Reimu's eyes. Seeing her face-to-face, it was almost enough to give her second thoughts. But, she had too much momentum. She wasn't about to let it go to waste. Sanae lunged over and grabbed Reimu's hand, tugging it into a firm grasp. “Actually... Reimu, I love you!”

Reimu stared at her, wide-eyed with disbelief. Silence hung over the group, as sharp and heavy as an axe.

Reimu sputtered. Her expression fluctuated wildly as she fought to control herself. She failed, and instead burst out laughing.

So did everybody else.

“W-what?!” Sanae jerked back and looked from person to person. “What's so funny?!”

“Really can't hold your liquor, huh?!” Reimu wheezed out, between bouts of laughter.

“Never figured ya for a wild drunk,” Marisa added.

“What? No! I've barely had anything!”

Even Kasen had a bandaged finger crooked in front of her lips, feigning a cough as she choked down her laughter. “Being too open with Reimu is one thing, but you should really apologize for shouting at Marisa.”

“I'm not drunk!”

Nobody seemed to be buying it. Even Kokoro had joined in... although for her, that meant chortling a steady, “Ha ha ha!” from behind a mask.

There was no way she was going to recover from this.

Again, time drifted away from Sanae.


	2. Iterations 4 - 7

_Sanae floated in darkness—pitch black, absolute. She was a formless observer without even a body. In front of her, she felt, but not saw, a single significant point. Her attention zoomed inward, inspecting it in finer and finer detail. It grew into a point of light. As she zoomed closer, she could make out smaller specks inside of it. Closer still, and she realized that the specks were themselves made of smaller lights... which were made of smaller lights, which were made of smaller lights. An entire universe lay before her, and it was the tiniest thing she could imagine._

_She looked up. Now that she had a sense of her scale, she could see that it wasn't the only one. The void glimmered with a billion tiny points of light._

Tewi leaned in front of her, and this time, Sanae recovered quickly enough to cut her off. “Okay!” she nearly shouted, and shoved the vial into Tewi's hands. She really didn't want to have the 'that was weird' conversation again. Instead, she took a breath to calm herself, then sighed it out. “Okay, um, this is, like, the fourth time? Maybe the fifth?” Her shoulders drooped. “I'm not really sure what I'm doing...”

“... oh.” For once, Sanae got to see Tewi surprised. It didn't last long. She cocked an ear up thoughtfully. “Hmm, I see. What seems to be the problem?”

“Stuff keeps popping up to get in the way! But if I just run up there and confess right away, everybody thinks I'm drunk!”

“Quite a dilemma,” Tewi agreed. “What's getting in your way?”

“There's these two girls that are going to get in a fight, so I've got to give mochi to one! But then fairies are going to sneak into the shrine, so I need to stop them, too!”

“Sneaking into the shrine while everybody's focused on a party, huh? … wow, I really should have thought of that.”

“H-hey, this isn't the time! I'm on a timer, you know!”

“Oh, right. Well, you need to stop some fairies, right? And fighting them probably takes a while.”

“Right!”

“And it's too much mess anyway! A girl can't confess her love if she's all sweaty and covered in fairy ashes.” Tewi gave a broad shrug and a sympathetic shake of her head, like this was a problem she'd encountered far too often, herself. “Why not make it easy on yourself and bribe them? Way quicker. Nobody's going to rob a shrine if they can get paid to stay home.”

“That... might actually work! Um, except...” Sanae patted her coin purse through her clothes. “I'm out of money.”

“No sweat. I've got you covered.” Tewi extended a hand, with the thousand yen bill—the same one that Sanae had just handed her, one minute and a few timelines ago—poking up from between two fingertips. “Call it a simple loan between friends! … fifty percent interest, compounded on Tuesdays.”

“Right!” Now that a path was in front of her, Sanae's mind was racing, but she was pretty sure she'd heard all the important parts. Something about paying it back on Tuesday. “Thanks! I'll pay it back, I promise!”

“Sure hope so!”

Sanae didn't run up the hill _quite_ so fast this time, but she still hurried. The conversation with Tewi had taken a bit longer than usual. She needed to make up some lost time.

“Welcome back,” Kasen said. “Is something wrong? Why were you running?”

“Um, no time, sorry! I don't need a drink either!”

Sanae only slowed down for long enough to snatch the plate of mochi. She ran down to the spot in the forest where she'd sat before, unceremoniously dropped it to the ground, and cupped her hands to her mouth. “HEY KOISHI THERE'S FREE SNACKS OVER HERE FOR YOU!”

“Can you keep it down?” Sekibanki called, from the other side of a wall of trees. “We're trying to relax over here.”

Sanae was already moving toward the Hakurei shrine.

The shrine itself was pretty much ignored during these events, apart from Reimu or a friend ducking inside to fetch more refreshments. Nobody was really keeping an eye on it, either, so she suspected that it wouldn't take long to find the fairies.

She was right. She hadn't even quite reached the shrine before she heard them discussing around a corner.

“Oh!” Star said. “What if instead of one big thing, we take a lot of little things? They'll be easier to carry, and with a big party going on, I bet Reimu has plenty of snacks in there.”

“I dunno...” Sunny said. “Taking little stuff is way less impressive, isn't it? If we steal something big, nobody will be able to ignore it!”

“I'd rather grab smaller things too,” Luna said. “That way it's easier to run away if we get caught.”

Sanae stepped around the corner and leaned forward, doing her very best to act like she'd been part of the conversation all along. “Oh! Can I make a suggestion?”

The three fairies stared up at her in disbelief. Sunny's cheeks slowly reddened, until she jabbed a finger up at Sanae. “Hey! What are you doing here?!”

“I'm here to help you out!” Quickly, Sanae added, “The gods are all about giving giving out blessings, so it isn't that weird for a shrine maiden to show up to help people, right?”

“It's pretty weird, actually,” Luna said.

“I've never heard about something like that either...” Star peered up at Sanae. “What kind of help can you give us, anyway?”

“The best kind of help around!” Sanae pulled out the thousand yen bill. She made the biggest show of presenting it that she could, thrusting it forward and spreading it out so they could get a good look. “... I'll give you this money, and then you can just buy some sake instead of stealing it!”

The fairies stared at it in confusion. “Usually people give money to shrines, not the other way around,” Sunny said.

“Ah. Um.” Sanae had to admit, she hadn't really come up with an excuse for why she was running around giving money to fairies. She cobbled one together on the fly. “That's... because... this is a special art the Moriya shrine brought from the outside world! It's called the stock market!”

Sunny frowned at the bill. “'Stock market'?”

“It's like magic, but with money! I'll give you this money and buy one share in your, um, fairy group! And then, um, you start donating to the shrine sometimes from now on. That's called 'dividends'! In the long run, we both win!”

“I'm not sure if that's actually a very good deal...” Star said thoughtfully.

She was drowned out by Sunny and Luna. “Whoa!” they said in unison, leaning forward toward the bill, their eyes glittering.

“I've never seen one with three zeroes!” Sunny added.

“It's all yours if you agree!” Sanae gave the bill an insistent little push toward them. She was starting to worry about just how long this was taking.

“Deal!” Sunny snatched it up.

“Just make sure to go buy sake instead of stealing it today! … and don't forget to donate from now on! That's part of the deal!”

“Right...!” Sunny shouted back over her shoulder. The fairies had already fallen into a moving argument over how best to spend the money. “Sure thing!”

Once she was sure they were drifting in the general direction of 'away,' Sanae breathed a sigh of relief and headed back toward the group. She was cutting it close. She couldn't have more than a minute left—enough time to confess, but she was going to have to be quick about it. As she got closer, she could see that Kokoro was still seated in the circle. Apparently her plan to lure Koishi away had still worked. Everything was going according to plan, and this time, she knew to control herself when she confessed to Reimu. All that remained was to actually do it.

She was barely ten meters from the group when a team of kappa, led by Nitori, hauled a cart into position nearby. Nitori flipped a switch on the side and took a deep breath, then bellowed out an announcement. “Hey, if I can have your attention for a moment...! Gensokyo's freshest new delicacy, Kappa Cotton Candy, is now on sale! Comes in cherry flavor, too, so it's perfect for flower viewing! Only two hundred yen a pop normally, but today we're selling for a low introductory price of one-fifty!”

In the otherwise peaceful crowd, the shout was hard to miss. Most of the eyes nearby turned toward Nitori, and a murmur of conversation drifted up from the collected flower-viewers. Here and there, interested parties stood up and wandered closer to have a look at the machine... including, Sanae noticed, Reimu and Kasen.

She gave an exasperated sigh. “Oh, come _on_.” She changed course toward the kappa and raised her voice. “H-hey! This isn't a festival or something! You're not supposed to be selling stuff here!”

“Eh?” Nitori turned to look back at her. “Then where did all of this booze and stuff come from?”

“People brought it to share!”

“... really? That's a missed opportunity.” Nitori looked back to the other kappa. “Somebody remind me to look into selling sake at one of these things.”

“No, um, that isn't the point...! Maybe you could try it out another time?” Seeing the doubtful look on Nitori's face, Sanae desperately added, “Please! I can't lose to cotton candy!”

“'Lose'...? I don't know about that, but look, we spent a lot of time getting this ready for today.” Nitori leaned forward, rubbing her thumb and forefinger together, in the universally-recognized gesture for 'I hope you're not too attached to your wallet.' “So unless you want to make it worth our while...”

Sanae let out a frustrated little groan. She could tell this wasn't going to get anywhere. She hurried over to Reimu and Kasen instead, and managed to intercept them a short distance from the cart. “A-ah, hi! How are you two?”

Reimu gave her an uncertain glance. “Hi. You do remember that we just chatted a few minutes ago, right?”

“Hello, Sanae,” Kasen said. “Did you want cotton candy too? Reimu convinced me to buy some against my better judgment.”

“On account of I've been such a hard-workin' example of shrine maidenly excellence lately,” Reimu said, proudly adjusting her bow. “But maybe she'll get you some too, if you ask nicely.”

“A-ah, actually...!” Sanae was nearly tripping over herself in her hurry to get Reimu alone. “I remembered the thing I wanted to show you earlier! So, um, could we maybe go do that? Like, _right_ now?”

“I'm sure it won't take more than a few minutes to get candy,” Kasen said. “Could it wait until afterward?”

“Um, well...!”

Her five minutes were up. The world blurred in front of Sanae.

* * *

_Time came to a standstill, and the universe once again parted to show off the beautiful, alien mechanics beneath. Like, presumably, at least. Sanae was mostly staring sullenly off into space, ignoring the scene before her. She was pretty sure that she saw her own birth or something. Whatever._

Tewi leaned up, peering up at her. After a few seconds, her expression showed a hint of worry. “Er, hello? You're there, right? Come on, the stuff can't be _that_ weird.”

Sanae begrudgingly met her eyes and sighed out, “Cotton candy.”

“Oh, hey, good. I was afraid I needed to start digging a grave for a second there.” Tewi reached up to snatch the vial away, then paused. “... 'cotton candy'?”

“Cotton candy! I lost because of cotton candy!”

“Huh. Is that candy made out of cotton, or...?”

But Sanae wasn't really paying attention to her. “I think I'm going to have a drink,” she announced to nobody in particular.

She trudged up the hill at an unconcerned pace.

“Welcome back,” Kasen said as she approached.

“Hi...” Sanae crouched down and grabbed her sake dish. She downed the contents in a single long sip, then looked expectantly to Marisa.

“Uh.” Marisa fumbled to raise the bottle. “Want me to top that off for ya?”

Sanae didn't answer. Marisa refilled it anyway. Sanae grabbed the plate of mochi in her other hand, and with her drink and way too many snacks, walked until she was alone. Then, she slumped down to have a seat.

She'd never quite gotten the appeal of alcohol, but right now, carrying the stress of four or five failed confession attempts on her shoulders, it was pretty nice. She reclined against the base of a tree and nursed her drink, with the occasional bite of mochi thrown in. She watched cherry blossoms drift down in pink curtains. She tried not to look toward the distant flower-viewing party of Reimu, Kasen, Marisa, and Kokoro, who weren't being very subtle about the looks they were shooting her.

She felt a little silly about it, now that she'd had a few seconds to relax, but she really did need to let out some stress. It was a nice chance to get some perspective again, anyway. Everything she was going through was for Reimu's sake. Reimu, the girl who managed to make youkai exterminations look effortless while barely managing to take care of herself. Reimu, who'd been her best friend ever since arriving in Gensokyo. If this could offer her even a shot of getting closer to Reimu, she could persevere, but—

Sanae's brooding was interrupted as Koishi's face appeared barely ten centimeters in front of her own, with a half-eaten mochi hanging out of her mouth. “This is a lot of food for one person!” Koishi said, with a child's earnestness. “You're probably going to get fat.”

“I don't think I can right now?” Sanae said after a moment of surprise. “I'm just seeing this in my head in the past, or something.” Now that she thought about it, she probably should have gotten the full story about that before she started drinking. If this alcohol followed her into the next loop, she might be in trouble. Or maybe not. At this rate, something to help keep her calm probably wasn't a bad idea.

Koishi nodded to herself, accepting the explanation without argument. “Why are you out here all alone? Don't you have any friends?”

“I've got friends! But, um, they're kind of hard to hang out with right now.” Sanae took another long sip of her sake, then stared at Koishi indecisively for a moment. But, there was no reason to hold back now. She might as well get everything off her chest. “First! I tried to, um, ask this one friend out, but my love letter was missing.”

“Huh...” Koishi stuffed another piece of mochi into her mouth.

“Then, I tried it again, but—um, well, you got into a fight with somebody, and it was really disruptive.”

“Oh!” Koishi's attention was on the story again. “Did I win?”

“I'm not sure? Um, anyway! _Then_ a bunch of fairies robbed the shrine and made her mad, and _then_ a bunch of kappa brought in a dumb machine to make candy!”

“Candy!” Koishi looked up excitedly from eating. “I like candy!”

“... you weren't even listening to the story, were you?!”

“Nope! Where's the candy?”

“It isn't here! It's—well, okay, they've probably made some by now. If you ran really fast, you could probably get to the front of the line, I guess?”

And, Sanae had an idea. She stared into space, realization dawning on her face, before leaping up from her seat. “Um! I'm sorry, but I have to go!”

“Whoa!” Koishi jumped up too, apparently on general principle. “Where are we going?! You still haven't told me where the candy is!”

“Not right now! I will in the past, okay?”

“Oh, okay! … how do I get to the past, though?”

Sanae ignored the question, turning her attention inward. She'd been through the time-jumping thing often enough to remember what it felt like. She just needed to ease herself into the right state of mind, and...

Time stopped for Sanae.

* * *

_This time, Sanae drifted farther out, seeing herself from the outside— **all** of herself. In front of her, an endless series of Sanaes stretched out toward the future, each one a fraction of a fraction of a second apart. Behind her, the past dragged them out into a long tail, tapering down to the first moments of her life. They were all her, when you got down to it—all captured in perfect stasis forever, existing side by side, like the frames of a movie. Seeing them like that, it struck her how silly it was to ever call one 'the future,' one 'the past,' and another 'now.'_

Tewi was in front of her again, and Sanae preempted her, rushing forward to rest a hand on her shoulder. “M-money!” she blurted out. “A thousand yen loan!”

“A loan?” Tewi said, after she'd recovered from the surprise. “What, do you need one? Because I happen to offer some pretty reasonable rates on—“

“Um, interest! Tuesday! Got it!” Sanae thrust the vial into Tewi's hand and snatched the thousand-yen bill out of it in return. She'd scrambled a few meters before she paused and looked back. “I've got it for real this time! It's all going to work out!”

“Good luck!” Tewi called after her. “But you've still gotta repay me in the other timeline if you mess up!”

Sanae hurried up the hill.

“Welcome back,” Kasen said. “Is something wrong? Why were you running?”

“I'll explain later!” Sanae crouched down to grab the plate of mochi. “I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?”

She headed to the same isolated spot, shouted, “HEY, KOISHI, I'VE GOT SOME FREE SNACKS FOR YOU!” and added a quieter, “Sorry for the noise!” in Sekibanki's direction. Then she sat down and waited.

Knowing that she was short on time, the wait for Koishi was excruciating. It felt like an eternity—or, well, a long time, at least. She'd _seen_ eternity a few times now. Eternity was pretty big, it turned out. In the end, though, a mochi finally vanished in front of her eyes. Sanae reached out to snag Koishi's wrist, and started talking before she'd even managed to see her. “Hi, Koishi!”

“Hi, shrine lady!” Koishi shifted the mochi to her other hand and took a big bite of it. “Why are you out here all alone? Don't you have any friends?”

“I was looking for you, actually!” Sanae released Koishi's hand, but kept an eye on her for another second or two just to make sure that she wasn't going to disappear again.

“You found me! … were we playing hide and seek?”

“Nope! I just wanted to give you a bunch of free candy!”

“Oh!” Koishi exclaimed, spraying pink rice from her mouth. “I love candy!”

“I know you do! That's why I'm giving it to you!” Sanae leaned in closer. “So! Nobody else knows this yet, but there are these kappa who have a cart, and the cart can make all the candy you want!”

“Whoa... I want a whole bucketful, then!”

“You could get a hundred buckets, even! I mean, probably.”

“Ah!” Koishi jolted up to standing, squirming with excitement. “That's a lot! Where is it?”

“It's up by the shrine! There are lots of kappa with a cart, and the cart makes candy! Go take all you want, okay?”

“Aye-aye!”

Koishi took off, and soon disappeared again. Sanae grabbed the now half-empty plate and headed up the hill.

The fairies were easy enough to bribe this time, now that she had her 'stock market' pitch refined. Soon, she was making her way back to the group, with a few minutes to spare.

Kokoro looked up at her, face full of blank curiosity. “You're really busy today.”

“A-ah, yep, I guess I am!” Sanae slid into her spot in the circle. “I think I'm all done now, though. Or, at least, I am after I talk to Reimu a little!”

“Didn't we already talk?” Reimu said, raising an eyebrow. “What else is there to say?”

“Well...”

Sanae was cut off by a distant chorus of shouts. “Hey!” Nitori's voice rose above the rest. “Get back here!”

A general commotion followed. Every eye in the group turned in the direction of the noise, just in time to see Koishi skip into view, carrying a double armload of cotton candy. Half a dozen kappa ran in hot pursuit.

Kokoro stared at the distant chase for a few seconds. Her masks orbited her indecisively until realization set in. “That's my nemesis,” she said. Her Hyottoko mask slid into position, and she added, “This will be fun!” She sprang to her feet and took off toward the chase, already readying her small arsenal of weapons.

“That girl still needs to learn some more discipline,” Kasen said, but she wasn't quite able to stifle an amused smile. “Reimu, don't you think you should step in?”

“I'm sure it'll be fine,” Reimu said, with an expansive shrug. “Flower viewin' is nice, but some more lively entertainment doesn't hurt either.” She looked to Sanae. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Well, um...” Sanae clenched her hands in her lap and tried to steady her thoughts. This was it. She'd finally gotten a good chance again, so she couldn't blow it. Fortunately, she had plenty of time to think. The wave of confused shouts as Kokoro charged into the kappa vs. Koishi fight produced too much noise to talk over, anyway. Sanae let out a long breath and said, “So, actually, when I stepped away with you earlier, I wanted to give you a letter... but I couldn't find it, and I chickened out. So, um! I'll just tell you instead...! Um. The thing is, I really like you, Reimu! Like, really! When I first showed up in Gensokyo, I thought you were really cool, and you still are actually, but I like you as a friend too. Or... more than a friend, I guess! I kind of... love you, is what I'm saying. And if you maybe wanted to go on a date sometime, I... think that could be fun. … so. I guess that's it!”

Reimu stared at her, wide-eyed with disbelief. A few seconds passed. Sanae self-consciously added, “A-ah, I know this is kind of sudden.”

Reimu sputtered. Her expression fluctuated wildly as she fought to control herself. She failed, and burst out cackling.

This time, nobody else laughed. “Reimu,” Kasen said sharply. “I really don't think that's any way to respond. Sanae just bared her heart to you.”

“A-ah, no, no!” Reimu gasped between bouts of laughter. “It ain't that!”

“Oh, hey,” Marisa said. “I had a feeling.”

Kasen and Sanae both looked to her.

“What do you mean?” Kasen asked.

“What d-do you mean?!” Sanae squeaked out, blinking away the tears that were swelling in her eyes.

“A-ah, jeez. One s—one second.” Reimu gasped and wheezed through a few more seconds of laughter, steadying herself with a hand on the ground. She took a deep breath, and her voice was still trembling when she continued. “'tweren't actually a bad confession, Sanae. Only, the thing is...”

Reimu straightened up and shook her head. A pair of fuzzy brown ears popped up from her hair. A tail exploded out behind her, fat and brown and fluffy and as big as she was. Her body grew up, and out, and a few seconds later, Sanae was face to face with Mamizou.

Mamizou, who somehow already had a pipe in her hand. She took advantage of the stunned silence to light it, then took a long drag before continuing. “Hadn't wanted to spoil my cover quite so early, but guess I forced my own hand.”

“I knew it,” Marisa said, looking proud of herself. “She's been talking like an old lady all day.”

“W-what?!” Sanae stammered. “Why—why are you Reimu?! Have you been here the whole time?!”

“Well, that's two different questions, now isn't it? I've been here for most of the party, though. As for the 'why'...” Mamizou tipped a hand toward Kasen. “I reckoned it'd be a good way to keep an eye on the hermit over here.”

“You...?” Kasen's face reddened as the statement sank in. “You disguised yourself as Reimu to spy on me?

“'Spy' makes it sound so serious. I was just having a look. … and trying to win a bet. Me n' that tengu reporter have a little wager about who'll be the first to figure out what you're up to.”

“I'm not 'up to' anything! And isn't a tanuki disguising herself as a shrine maiden more suspicious than—“

“A-ah, wait, wait!” Sanae practically leapt across the circle to separate the two. “Before you start fighting! … where's the real Reimu?”

“Reimu?” Mamizou took a puff from her pipe, infuriatingly slow, before she answered. “Last I saw her, she was past the shrine, on the other side of the hill. Drinkin' with that oni lush, I think.”

Reimu was on the other side of the hill, and Sanae had just lost a couple of minutes to the wrong Reimu. Which meant...

Sanae's mind came unanchored in time.

* * *

_Sanae drifted like a drunken balloon, watching the landscape shift below her—hills rose and fell like the chest of a sleeping giant, while the smaller features changed even more quickly. As she relaxed, she slipped even farther. Here, the Sun grew and hung heavy in the sky, an angry red light that threatened to engulf everything. There, the march of life crept backward until the Earth was barren and cracked, cloaked in thick mist. Between the two, she caught the briefest glimpses of buildings and people, momentary footnotes in the long, long history of the universe._

Tewi was in front of her again. Sanae shoved the vial into her hands and spoke up before the rabbit could even react. “I'm fine! I'm fine. And I don't need a loan this time, thanks!”

“A loan? What would you need a loan for?”

“I'll explain later!”

Sanae was already moving. This time, on a different course. She passed the group of flower-viewers, and shot an annoyed glance toward Mamizou-Reimu. She passed the kappa, making final adjustments to their cart-bound cotton candy machine. She headed over the crest of the hill, and the far side came into view.

This area was farther from both the road and the front of the shrine, so few youkai had bothered to walk out here. There were plenty of cherry trees, though, and in the middle of them, Reimu, Aya, Suika, Youmu, and Yuyuko were relaxing.

Suika leaned back to peer at her as she approached, wobbling in her seat. “Shhhhanaeeee!” she cooed. Sanae was pretty sure she could _see_ the alcohol vapors in Suika's breath. “Didja come to bring us drinks?”

“Um, nope, sorry! I actually came to talk to Reimu. … Reimu, could I pull you away for a few minutes?”

“Huh?” Reimu looked up from taking a sip of her drink. “Oh, sure. … but somebody make sure Suika doesn't steal my drink.”

“I'll do my best,” Youmu said solemnly, not noticing that Yuyuko's hand was already creeping toward it.

Reimu pushed herself up to standing, and Sanae tried not to blurt out her confession then and there. Even a little tipsy and disheveled from a day spent outside, Reimu was cute. Beautiful, even. The falling cherry blossoms framed her in a way that just looked _right_ , and no tanuki was going to capture that.

“... Sanae?” Reimu said. “Did you want something? You're just kind of staring.”

“O-oh! Right! Here, over this way.” Without even thinking, Sanae reached over and took Reimu's hand. “It's nothing bad, I promise!”

She led Reimu down the hill and deeper into the grove of flowering trees. She had a good feeling about this one.

* * *

Somewhere higher up the hill, Tewi watched the two walk off with a satisfied nod.

It was hard to be sure, not having any experience with the Ultramarine Orb Elixir herself, but Sanae's weird reaction had made it pretty clear that she'd been through this a few times. Enough to establish a history of taking out loans from her, at least.

If she was lucky, maybe she could still collect on those loans she'd never technically given in the first place. But, for now, it seemed best to give Sanae her space. Tewi slipped the vial back into her pocket... and while her hand was there anyway, checked on the other thing she was carrying. Sanae's love letter was still tucked away, safe and sound, only a little rumpled from its brief stay on the forest floor before Tewi had found it. She'd have to find somewhere secure to keep it... at least, as long as Sanae kept those payments coming in on time.

Whistling to herself, Tewi turned and headed toward home, six thousand yen richer and with young love blooming behind her. Another job well done.


End file.
